THERMAL CONTROL OF PLANT AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

References: 17th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2017, www.sgem.org, SGEM2017 Conference Proceedings, ISBN 978-619-7408-12-6 / ISSN 1314-2704, 29 June - 5 July, 2017, Vol. 17, Issue 61, 1175-1182 pp, DOI: 10.5593/sgem2017/61/S25.153

ABSTRACT

Currently, non-destructive testing of fruits and vegetables using technical vision systems in the infrared region of the spectrum is actively developed. The active thermal control as a variation of this method allows detecting surface and subsurface defects in plant tissues, caused by mechanical damage or plant diseases at early stages. The sensitivity of this method depends on control parameters such as power and time of heat impact. It is necessary to know the thermophysical characteristics of both healthy tissues and damaged tissues for preliminary determination of these modes. This paper describes a non-stationary method and an automated measurement tool, which are developed by the authors and allow determining the thermal conductivity and heat capacity of the heterogeneous materials, including plant tissues of fruits and vegetables. The information about the results of the experimental determination of thermal conductivity and heat capacity of different quality potato tissues is also given. This paper proposes the recommendations for selecting the mode of experimental potato quality control before placing it in a storage. The designed method for thermophysical characteristics measuring (with a 7 % error) will improve the effectiveness of thermal quality control up to 40 %, not only for potatoes, but also for other agricultural products.

Keywords: thermophysical properties (TPP), integral characteristics, non-destructive thermal testing, measuring device, automated control system (ACS).